tax

Sure, no problem, you can totally deduct cat food from your yearly taxes … but only if it’s exclusively offered up to the clowder of feral felines that roam your salvage yard. Meet Samuel and Carol Seawright, the proprietors of Columbia North East Used Parts in Columbia, S.C., who deducted hundreds of dollars in cat food as an “ordinary and necessary” business expense under IRS code section 162. The 1995 deduction landed the Seawrights in tax court a few years later, but the court ultimately permitted a $300 allowance for the cat chow as it was used to attract and feed the stray cats that kept the couple’s auto scrap yard free of costumer-scaring vermin like rats and snakes. And while we’re on the topic of junkyards, yes, you can write off the costs of keeping a guard dog as a business expense but only if the pooch is used solely to protect inventory, livestock and the lik...